Another Chance for Clay

In 2009, Clay Matthews finished third in the defensive rookie of the year voting done by the Associated Press. Now in 2010, he may actually get a second chance to win that very same award. The winner was Houston linebacker Brian Cushing, but he has since been suspending for the first four games of the 2010 season after violating the league's steroid policy. That's semi-good news for Clay Matthews, as the AP has decided to hold a revote, which could ultimately lead to Matthews being named the Defensive ROY.

It could also mean bad news for Matthews, as he and Brian Cushing were best friends and college teammates at USC. If Cushing is connected to steroids, there's a realistic chance that Matthews could be connected to steroids. I'm going to show Clay a sign of good faith and assume that he is clean, but I wonder how he is feeling regarding the news of his friend and if they have had any conversations about it.

The ballots for the new defensive rookie of the year are due by Wednesday at 11am, but here's the thing - Cushing is still eligible to win the award. If that's the case, then I'm really not sure what the point of this is. I mean, as a Packer fan I would love to see Matthews win the award as I think he deserves it, but I don't really agree with the whole re-voting process. They played the season, the writers picked a winner. I don't think they should be able to take that away from Cushing. Sure, steroids are a huge no-no in sports now, but let him be punished this fall and not by taking away what he deserved.

Now you can argue that he "earned" the award on steroids, I just don't think awards can be retroactive. If that's the case, I'd like to see the 1968 Heisman trophy re-voted on because O.J. Simpson turned out to be a murderer, and countless other examples that I'm not going to look up right now because I'm watching Monday Night Raw. I know, I suck.